Scraper



June 1934. R. G. LE TOURNEAU SCRAPER Filed Dec. 16, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet1 INVENTOR R GL6 fiuu'lzealz June 1934- R. G. LE TOURNEAU SGRAPER FiledDec. 16. 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR I I R. aLe Zburneau BY Q 5ATTORNEY June 19, 193 R. (5. LE TOURNEAU SCRAPER 5 Shets-Sheet 3 Filed.Dec. 16, 1932 INVENTOR R.6ILe-Z7;ar12eaa Q? 9.3%

June 19, 1934.

R. G. LE TOURNEAU SCRAPER Filed Dec. 16. 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORjidLeflllun alL BY @hiz. m AA;

ATTORNEY J1me 1934- R. G. LE TOURNEAU SCRAPER Filed Dec. 16. 1932 5Sheets-Sheet 5 "Iii;

INVENTOR .R GZLe Yiuwrzeau Q.- 8. Q5

ATTORNEY Patented June 19, 1934 UNITED STATES SCBAPER Robert G. beTourneau, Stockton, Calif.

Application December 16.

22 Claims.

This invention relates to scrapers of the large capacity tractor-drawntype, and has certain features in common with the scraper shown in myPatent No... 1,857,157, dated May 10, 1932;

in which the dirt after being loaded and transported to the desiredpoint is discharged by the forward movement of a rear end or pushergate.

As far as I am aware all scrapers heretofore have been constructed onthe theory that the dirt could only be loaded into the scraper bowl tothe rear of the scraping blade, with the forward movement of theimplement. Due to the enormous and constantly increasing resistance torearward movement offered by a mass of dirt as the loading proceeds andthe bulk of dirt increases, it has been assumed that a large capacityscraper could only be obtained by a great width or depth of the bowl,which without some means to aid the loading action required the use ofan almost prohibitive amount of power.

In my Patent No. 1,891,266, dated December 20, 1932, I provided such anaid to loading a large capacity scraper by the use of a rearwardlypushing front endgate, designed to bodily push a mass of dirt back intothe bowl after it had been scraped, so as to clear the front portion ofthe bowl for the reception of a further mass of dirt. I also provided aloading aid by making the bowl of a telescopic character, as shown in myPatent No. 1,530,779, dated March 24, 1925. In the first case greatpower was necessary to push the mass of dirt back bodily, and in thesecond case an excessively long, unwieldly and somewhat complicatedstructure was necessary.

I have since found however that most varieties of dirt, after a certainamount of the same has been piled up into the bowl back of the scraperblade, and thereby setting up a certain resistance to further rearwardmovement, tends of itself to tumble or slide forwardly with a continuedaction of the scraper blade against the ground. I have taken advantageof this discovery by the provision of a dirt receiving member orauxiliary bowl ahead of the blade so arranged relative thereto as not tointerfere with the action of said blade, and so that the scraper ineffect is loaded at the middle instead of at its forward end. In thismanner the total mass of dirt moves a minimum distance from the pointwhere it leaves the ground or is scraped up, and this feature forms themain object of the present invention.

A further object of the invention is to so mount and operate thisauxiliary bowl in connection with the rear end pusher gate that saidbowl will be 55 automatically moved to a discharge position ahead AUG 27I946 1932, Serial No. 647,529 (CI. 37-12?) of any movement of the gate.In this manner the two sections of the bowl are relieved of their loadsin succession and evenly without any tendency to clog up the dirt outletas would be the case if an excessively large quantity of dirt weredischarged all at one time.

A further object is to provide what I believe to be a novel means forsupporting the bowl for vertical adjustment in such a manner that aminimum of power is necessary to efiect such adjustment.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of my improved scraper.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same in loading position taken onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the scraper loaded and in transportingposition.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the scraper in its dumping position andtaken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal view of the end-gate supporting beamand adjacent parts partly in section.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross section on the line 68 of Fig.1.

Fig. 7 is a similar view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a similar view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 3.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numerals 1 and 2 denote transverse front and rear framebeams which are connected by the depending side walls 3 of the mainscraper bowl and by rails 4 extending along the top edges of and 95spaced inwardly from said side walls. The bottom 5 of the scraperextends forwardly from the rear ends of the side walls and terminatessubstantially central of the length of said walls in a downwardlysloping scraper blade 6. The bowl 100 is supported at its rear end onwheels 7 disposed rearwardly of said bowl and journaled in connectionwith arms or brackets 8 rigid with the bowl and disposed on the outsideof the same. These wheels are preferably provided with pneu- 105 matictires arranged in dual form as shown in Fig. 1.

The front end of the scraper is supported by a swivel pony truck 9provided with a tongue 10 whereby connection with a tractor may be made.110

An arm 11 is rigid with and projects upwardly and at a rearward anglefrom the relatively stationary frame 12 of the pony truck. Other arms 13are rigidly secured to the arm 11 intermediate its ends and extendrearwardly and downwardly to pivotal connections with the sides of thewalls 3 at the front and bottom, as shown at 14.

The upper end of the arm 11 is provided with transversely spacedupstanding sheave housings 15 rigid therewith. These housings straddle abeam 16 extending to the rear end of and above the bowl and pivoted atsaid end on an arched bracket 17 upstanding from the beam 2. The beam 16rides on a roller 18 mounted on the arm 11 between the housings 15.Vertical sheaves 19 are mounted in said housings and other cooperatingsheaves 26 are mounted on the beam 16 ahead of the arm 11, a horizontaldirection changing sheave 21 for the control cable 22 being arranged inconnection with the sheaves 20.

The cable is anchored at one end on the arm 11 and extends thence to andback and forth between the diflerent sheaves 20, 19 and 21 in properorder, and thence to and about a vertical direction changing pulley 23mounted on one side of the arm 11 intermediate its ends. From thispulley the cable passes to a winding drum unit on the tractor (notshown) but which is preferably of the type shown in my co-pendingapplication for patent, Serial No. 512,979, filed February '2, 1931. Bymeans of this arrangement it will be seen that a pulley on the cabledecreases the distance between the sheaves 19 on the arm 11 and thesheaves 20 on the beam 16, causing the arm 11 to be straightened up in aforward direction, turning about the wheel center of the pony truck asan axis.

Since the arms 13 are rigid with the arm 11 the pivots l4 andconsequently the bowl itself will be raised. This raising movement isaided by the back push on the beam 16 imparted thereto by the pull onthe cable, the structure turning on the rear wheels asan axis. Thedivided arrangement of the sheaves and the runs of the cable on oppositesides of the beam 16 insures a non-binding adjustment movement beingimparted to the bowl structure. When the pull on the cable is releasedthe bowl drops of its own weight as will be evident and since with thistype of scraper the weight of the bowl and associated parts isconsiderable, no means to force the blade 6 into the ground isnecessary.

The rear wall or back end of the bowl is in the form of a movableendgate 24 depending from and mounted in rigid connection with alongitudinal beam 25 disposed centrally of the width of the bowl whichis above the beams 1 and 2. The beam 25 is hollow and contains a strongcom pression spring 26. At its rear end this spring engages the rear endof the beam and at its forward end engages the head flange of a tubularmember 27 about which the spring is disposed, and which is connected toa cable 28. This cable extends thence through the spring and beyond therear end of the beam to an anchor bracket 29 mounted in fixed connectionwith and rearwardly of the bracket 17 as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. It willtherefore be seen that the spring exerts a pressure to push the beam andendgate rearwardly and when the beam is pulled forwardly the spring ofcourse resists such movement and becomes compressed.

Upstanding posts 30 are mounted on the endgate at its sides which carryrollers 31 engaging the top and bottom surfaces of the correspondingrails 4, and other rollers 32 engaging the inner vertical faces of therails as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Adjacent its forward end the beam 25rides on rollers 33 mounted in connection with the front frame beam 1,and other rollers 34 also 'mounted in connection with said beam I bearagainst the sides of the beam 25. The top of the beam 25'is engaged onone side by an overhanging roller 35 supported on a short arm 36upstanding from the beam 1 to one side of the beam 25 as shown in Figs.1 and 7. The latter roller can only be used on one side however onaccount of the presence of the control cable on the opposite side of thebeam 25 as later described.

Disposed between the main bowl-sides 3 ahead of the blade 6 is what maybe properly termed an auxiliary bowl 37, which is of scoop-like formhaving an upward slope toward the front. This auxiliary bowl is rigidwith a pair of strap arms 38 which project upwardly and rearwardly fromthe sides of the auxiliary bowl at its rear end. The upper ends of thesearms are provided with slots 39 which are engaged by rollers ortrunnions 40 mounted on posts 41 upstanding from the sides of the mainbowl (see Fig. 6) and disposed rearwardly oi the plane of. the blade 6.The auxiliary bowl naturally tends to swing down of its own weight andthe arms 38 are arranged so that when the trunnions 40 are engaged withthe upper sides of the slots 39, the rear edge of the. auxiliary bowlthen engages the blade 6 forming a closure therewith as shown in Fig. 3and making the main and auxiliary bowls a continuous dirt retainingunit.

The auxiliary bowl and endgate are connected together for movement in acertain relation to each other by the following means.

Secured on the front end of the auxiliary bowl is a sheave block 42,alined with a similar block 43 rigid with the beam 1 in front of thesame and disposed to the side of the beam 25 opposite the roller arm 36.Mounted on said side of the beam 25 toward its rear end is anothersheave block 44. A cable 45 passes from the tractor power unitpreviously mentioned about a direction changing pulley 46 on the arm 11to the side of the pulley 23 and thence over one of the sheaves 19 whichserves to hold this portion of the cable away from the sheaves 43. Thecable then extends to the rear sheave block 44, then about the sheavesof the blocks 43 and 42 and finally to an anchor 47 on the beam 25rearwardly of said blocks as plainly shown. The multiplicity of sheaveblocks and corresponding number of runs of cable thus had are employedin order to increase the leverage as will be evident.

By means of this arrangement it will be seen that a pull on the cable 45exerts a forward pull on the beam 25 through the sheave block 44 andalso exerts an upward pull on the auxiliary bowl through the sheaveblock 42. Since the weight of the auxiliary bowl when empty andconsequently its resistance to upward movement is less than that offeredby the spring 26 holding the endgate and beam 25 back, the auxiliarybowl will be lifted to its limit of movement before any movement will beimparted to the endgate. Such limit of movement is reached when thefront end of the auxiliary bowl engages a stop 48 preferably mounted onand depending from the pulley block 43.

The same is true when the scraper is loaded since the dirt holdingcapacity of the auxiliary bowl is less than that of the main bowl. Theresistance of the load of the auxiliary bowl and its weight isconsequently less than that offered by the load in the main bowl and bythe endgate, which latter resistance is increased by the naturalpressure of the spring 26.

In operation to load the scraper the blade 6 is lowered to the desiredscraping level by suitable manipulation of the cable 22, while theauxiliary bowl is swung up somewhat or until it is above and in front ofthe blade 8 a suitable distance according to the character of the dirtbeing scraped and as shown in Fig. 2. The dirt naturally passes into themain bowl first and as the latter fills up and assumes a relativelysteep slope at the front it begins to tumble forwardly rather than pushfurther back, on account of the fact that there is less resistance tothe latter movement of the dirt. As a result the front auxiliary bowlfills up likewise. If at any time during the filling of the bowls thebottom of the auxiliary bowl comes in contact with a large boulder orother relatively unyielding object. said auxiliary bowl can yieldupwardly without danger on account of the presence of the slots 39 inthe supporting arms 38.

When the scraper is fully loaded the main bowl is raised to atransporting position by manipulation of the cable 22 and so that theblade 6 engages the adjacent rear edge of the auxiliary bowl as shown inFig. 3. When it is desired to dump the load the scraper is adjustablyset by manipulation of the cable 22 so that the blade 6 is at thedesired level from the ground and the cable 45 is pulled to raise theauxiliary bowl to its topmost limit of movement as shown in Fig. 4. Withsuch raising of the auxiliary bowl the gap between the blade 6 and theadjacent edge of the auxiliary bowl is increased so as to allow of afree flow of dirt and at the same time the arms 38 move back so that thetrunnions 40 then lie at the opposite ends of the slots 39. This is dueto the fact that the fixed sheaves 43 are rearwardly of the auxiliarybowl sheaves 42, so that a rearward push is then exerted on theauxiliary bowl and its supporting arms, and to the distribution ofweight of the auxiliary bowl relative to the supporting cable coupledwith the positioning of the slots relative to a vertical plane when thearms are swung up and forwardly. As a result the radius of turning ofthe auxiliary bowl is shortened and said bowl is pulled practicallystraight up during the latter part of its movement. This increases thedumping angle of the bowl 3'? considerably without raising it to anexcessive degree, and promotes quick and efficient dumping. Also, thearms 13 may be shorter than could otherwise be the case, and the entireimplement is more compact.

As the auxiliary bowl is raised the dirt spills out of the same ofitself and onto the ground in front of the blade 6 so that it ispractically empty by the time said auxiliary bowl is fully raised. Witha continued pull on the cable 45 the rear endgate then moves forwardlyforcing the dirt over the blade 6 and onto the ground. Thus with theforward movement of the scraper there is practically no lapse betweenthe discharge of dirt from the auxiliary and main bowls.

When the scraper is empty the slackening of pressure on the cable 45permits the spring 26 to return the beam 25 and endgate back to theirnormal position, followed by a lowering of the auxiliary bowl to itsnormal position or to any desired level as controlled by the pressure onthe cable and ready for further loading operations.

It should be noted that the center of the cable slot in the singlesheave 21 is twice as far above the longitudinal central plane of thebeam 16 as the center of the two sheaves 20 is below said plane. In thismanner, the cable pressure on the sheaves 20 tending to pull the beamdown is equalized by the pressure on the sheave 2i tending to pull thebeam up, and as a result said beam is kept relatively floating.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A scraper comprising a main bowl, an auxiliary bowl in'front of thesame, arms projecting upwardly from the auxiliary bowl, pivotalconnections between the arms at their upper ends and the main bowl, andmeans applied to the auxiliary bowl to swing the same about the pivotalconnections as an axis; said connections comprising trunnions fixed onthe main bowl, the arms having longitudinal slots in which saidtrunnions ride.

2. A scraper comprising a main bowl, a forwardly movable rear endgatetherein, an auxiliary bowl in front of the main bowl, means mountingsaid auxiliary bowl for upward and forward movement from its normalposition, and an operating means applied in common to the end-gate andauxiliary bowl for first raising the latter and then pulling the endgateforwardly.

3. A scraper comprising a main bowl, a forwardly movable rear endgatetherein, an auxiliary bowl in front of the main bowl, means mountingsaid auxiliary bowl for upward and forward movement from its normalposition, an operating means applied in common to the endgate andauxiliary bowl and arranged to both raise the latter and pull theendgate forwardly, and spring means yieldably resisting the forwardmovement of the endgate.

4. A scraper comprising a main bowl, a forwardly movable rear endgatetherein, an auxiliary bowl in front of the main bowl, a sheave fixed inconnection with the endgate, a sheave fixed on the auxiliary bowl, apair of sheaves fixed in connection with the main bowl above said secondnamed sheave, and a pull cable extending about the first sheave fromahead of the same, then to and about one of said pair of sheaves and toand about the second sheave, and then about the other one of said pairof sheaves to an anchor rearwardly thereof and in fixed connection withthe endgate.

5. A scraper comprising a main bowl, a forwardly movable rear endgatetherein, an auxiliary bowl in front of the main bowl, a single pullcable, and means connecting the cable to the endgate and auxiliary bowlto both pu the endgate forwardly and raise the auxiliary owl.

6. A structure as in claim 5, with spring means applied to the endgateto resist the forward movement thereof, the unloaded weight of theauxiliary bowl resisting the raising of the same being less than theresistance offered by the spring whereby the auxiliary bowl will beraised before the endgate is moved, and means positively limiting suchraising movement;

7. A structure as in claim 5, in which the combined weight of theauxiliary bowl size and capacity of the auxiliary bowl relative to themain bowl is such that the combined weight of the auxiliary bowl and itsload oil'ers less resistance to being raised than the resistance againstforward movement of the endgate offered by a load in the main bowl.

8. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its rearend, forwardlyextending arms pivoted on and supporting the bowl at itsfront end, and means applied to said arms to swing the same upwardly attheir pivoted ends and also exerting a direct backward pressure on theback end of the bowl above the axis of the wheels.

9. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its rearend, a front wheel truck, an arm mounted on and upstanding from thetruck, rearwardly extending arms rigid with said upstanding arm andpivoted at their rear ends on the bowl at its forward end, and meansapplied to said upstanding arm to swing the same forwardly whereby toraise the rear ends of said pivoted arms and thus tilt the bowl upwardlyabout the rear wheels as an axis.

10. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its rearend, a front wheel truck, an arm mounted on and upstanding from thetruck, rearwardly extending arms rigid with said upstanding arm andpivoted at their rear ends on the bowl at its forward end, and meansapplied to said upstanding arm to swing the same forwardly and at thesame time acting to exert a rearward pressure against the rear end ofthe bowl above the rear wheels.

11. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its rearend, a front wheel truck, an arm mounted on and upstanding from thetruck, rearwardly extending arms rigid with said upstanding arm andpivoted at their rear ends on the bowl at its forward end, a beammounted on the bowl at its rear end at a point above the rear wheels andextending forwardly to a termination ahead of said upstanding arm, andmeans between the front end of said beam and the upper end of said armfor pulling said ends toward each other.

12. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its. rearend, a front wheel truck, an arm mounted on and upstanding from thetruck, rearwardly extending arms rigid with said upstanding arm andpivoted at their rear ends on the bowl at its forward end, a beammounted on the bowl at its rear end at a point above the rear wheels andextending forwardly to a termination ahead of said upstanding arm,sheaves fixed on the front end of said beam and on the upper end of thearm arranged in substantially horizontal alinement with each other, anda pull cable anchored on the arm and extending thence about and betweenthe sheaves in a manner to cause a pull on the cable to draw the sheavestoward each other.

13. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its rearend, a front wheel truck, an arm mounted on and upstanding from thetruck, rearwardly extending arms rigid with said upstanding arm andpivoted at their rear ends on the bowl at its forward end, a beammounted on the bowl at its rear end at a point above the rear wheels andextending forwardly to a termination ahead of said upstanding arm,vertical sheaves on the upper end of the arm on opposite sides, sheavesalined with said armsheaves mounted on the sides of the beam at itsforward end and below the longitudinal central plane thereof, ahorizontal sheave mounted on the beam above said central plane, and apull cable anchored on the arm and extending thence about and betweenthe various sheaves in a manner to cause a pull on the cable to draw thearm and beam sheaves toward each other; the cable groove on thehorizontal sheave being twice as far above the central plane of the beamas the axis of the vertical beam-sheaves is below said plane.

14. In a scraper, a main bowl section having side walls extending somedistance ahead of the bottom of said section, an auxiliarydirt-retaining bottom member normally disposed in front of and above thebottom of the main section, and

means mounting said auxiliary bottom between the forward portions of theside walls for movement relative to the main section whereby as theforward portion of the main section becomes loaded some of the load willmove into the auxiliary member without spilling outwardly between thesame.

15. A scraper comprising a bowl having front and rear sections normallyspaced apart to form a gap between their adjacent ends and meansmounting the forward section for upward movement in an initiallyvertical direction and a subsequent increasingly angular directionrelative to the main bowl section.

16. A scraper comprising a bowl having front and rear sections normallyspaced apart to form a gap between their adjacent ends, means applied tothe front end of the forward section to raise such end, and pivot meansmounting the forward section so that the action of said raising meanswill first cause said section to be lifted vertically with noappreciable arcuate movement, and then swung upwardly about the pivotmeans through an arc of relatively short radius with respect to theinitial position of said pivot means on the section.

17. A scraper including a bowl, wheels supporting the same at its rearend, forwardly extending arms pivoted on and supporting the bowl at itsfront end, and means applied to the arms and to the bowl to swing thearms upwardly at their pivoted ends and at the same time exert aseparate pressure directly on the bowl in a direction to raise the frontend of the same.

18. In a scraper, a bowl having rails along its sides at the top andparallel to the bottom thereof, a rear endgate disposed between thesides, rollers mounted in connection with the endgate and engaging thehorizontal and adjacent vertical faces of the rails, a horizontal beamextending lengthwise of the bowl above and rigid with the endgate. across beam on the bowl ahead of the endgate, rollers mounted inconnection with the cross beam and guidingly engaging said first namedbeam, and means applied to said first named beam to move the samelengthwise.

19. In a scraper, a frame, a bowl supported therefrom, an auxilary dirtretaining member in front of the bowl to cooperate therewith to receivesome of the load scraped into the same, arms projecting upwardly fromthe member, transverse pivot elements on the frame, each arm having an Lshaped slot in which the corresponding element rides, one leg of theslot extending upwardly from the apex thereof at substantially a rightangle to the bottom of the member while v acting in conjunction withsaid operating means to cause the functioning of the latter to raise theauxiliary bowl before moving the endgate.

22. A scraper comprising a main bowl, an auxiliary bowl in front or themain bowl and arranged relative thereto to be loaded in conjunctiOntherewith, both bowls adapted to discharge directly onto the ground attheir adjacent ends,

and a common means applied to said bowls to control the discharging ofthe same in predetermined order.

ROBERT G. LE TOURNEAU.

DISCLAIMER 1,963,665.Robert G. Le Tourneau, Stockton,

Calif. Scmrmm Patent dated June 19, 1934. Disclaimer filed September 261942 b th assignee, R. G. Le Tourneau, Inc. y e Inventor and the Herebyenter this disclaimer to claim 14 of the s cifi pe cation of said atent.[Oflicml Gazette October 27, 1.942.] p

DISCLAIMER 1,963,665.R0bert 0. Le Tourneau, Stockton, Calif ScRaPEa.Patent dated June 19, 1934. Disclaimer filed Mar. 20, 1946, by theinventor and the asslgnee,

R. 0. Le Tourneau, Inc.

Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 2, 4, 5; 7, 20, and 22 of theabove patent.

017ml Gazette May 14, 1946.1

a right angle to the bottom of the member while v acting in conjunctionwith said operating means to cause the functioning of the latter toraise the auxiliary bowl before moving the endgate.

22. A scraper comprising a main bowl, an auxiliary bowl in front or themain bowl and arranged relative thereto to be loaded in conjunctiOntherewith, both bowls adapted to discharge directly onto the ground attheir adjacent ends,

and a common means applied to said bowls to control the discharging ofthe same in predetermined order.

ROBERT G. LE TOURNEAU.

DISCLAIMER 1,963,665.Robert G. Le Tourneau, Stockton,

Calif. Scmrmm Patent dated June 19, 1934. Disclaimer filed September 261942 b th assignee, R. G. Le Tourneau, Inc. y e Inventor and the Herebyenter this disclaimer to claim 14 of the s cifi pe cation of said atent.[Oflicml Gazette October 27, 1.942.] p

DISCLAIMER 1,963,665.R0bert 0. Le Tourneau, Stockton, Calif ScRaPEa.Patent dated June 19, 1934. Disclaimer filed Mar. 20, 1946, by theinventor and the asslgnee,

R. 0. Le Tourneau, Inc.

Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 2, 4, 5; 7, 20, and 22 of theabove patent.

017ml Gazette May 14, 1946.1

